{UAH} Campaigns bring out Mbabazi’s many traits
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Campaigns bring out Mbabazi's many traits
The Amama Mbabazi campaigning to become the next president is a benevolent, down-to-earth fellow, far from the all-powerful prime minister during his days in the cabinet, writes SADAB KITATTA KAAYA.
On the campaign trail, every rally, region and people bring out a never-before-seen character streak in Mbabazi. He was once described as an aloof and sometimes arrogant former prime minister and now independent presidential candidate.
Driving through Opota village in the northern district of Agago on February 6, Mbabazi saw two men seated under a shelter a few metres away. He asked his driver to slow down so he could take a keen look at what the men were doing.
They were playing the traditional board game commonly known as Omweso among the Baganda or Coro in Luo. He stepped out of his car, and for a moment, his entourage wondered what he planned on doing since Opota was not among the day's scheduled stops.
"Mzee, this place is not on the programme, we don't have a stopover here," one of the handlers told the former NRM secretary general.
Amama Mbabazi plays draughts in KitgumMbabazi simply ignored the message and walked over to the men under a grass-thatch roof. When his handlers persistently reminded him that time was of essence, he simply told them: "I am going to play Omweso."
He found the two men arguing, with one accusing the other of cheating. Soon, he was on the board playing and discussing issues pertinent to the locals.
A crowd immediately gathered but Mbabazi remained focused on the game until he defeated his challenger. He then picked the microphone and addressed the gathering.
This was one of the many performances Mbabazi has put up since the campaigns started. In many incidents, Mbabazi has seemed to be at odds with his campaign team. When the campaign team is fretting over a planned big rally ahead, the presidential candidate is usually focused on something else.
At Opota for instance, DP President Norbert Mao and his UPC counterpart Olara Otunnu kept in their cars because they were racing against time to address three scheduled rallies in Pader district.
But Mbabazi's focus was on the board game. Through his interaction with the locals, he was told of a memorial site of the October 22, 2002 massacre of 28 civilians by suspected LRA rebels. Without a wreath, he picked a few flowers he later placed on the site.
At another stop, he called a barefoot old woman with two dirty young children to sit beside him. These are not innocent antics by the Go Forward candidate because he believes that such actions send a powerful message to the electorate.
"Addressing a mammoth crowd is not a big deal for me; [instead] it is those images of people who are as if they live in the past century because they bring out the realities of our society," Mbabazi told journalists in January.
SINGER, DANCER
In the villages of Kibaale district, Mbabazi was stopped by a group of women at Ruteete village. Using a jerrycan for a drum, they sang for him;
"Nitwenda change, no change etuhurize" (We want change; no change has not benefitted us). The song struck a chord with Mbabazi.
He memorized a few lines and sang it at the next rallies. At Bwizibwera in Hoima district, women forced him out of his armored V8 Land Cruiser and he danced to Ekitaaguriro, a Bakiga traditional folk dance. Mbabazi, however, failed to memorise a song the women had composed for him.
On arrival at his rallies, he always dances to Mathias Walukagga's Abantu Bakoowu, Gerald Kiweewa's Kyandanda Omugenyi Agenda, Big Eye's Physically Fit or Melody's Nkoleki.
Then later, he dances to his official campaign tune; Tusonge, that ushers him onto the podium to address his rallies.
Asked how he quickly masters the different dance strokes, Mbabazi said: "I have always been a dancer. I was a member of my school's music, dance and drama club, but that does not mean that I go to nightclubs."
TEASER
On February 3 in Hoima, he found a group of foreign journalists waiting for him at a village near Kyangwali refugee settlement camp. He did not pay much attention to them until he started addressing the gathering. He then turned to them and spoke his native Rukiga.
From atop his open roof, he asked them whether they were residents of that village, sending the crowd into a bout of laughter. When the journalists turned to their interpreters to pick the joke, Mbabazi told the interpreters to say nothing because he wanted the whites to learn Rukiga.
ACCOMODATION
Apart from Kabale, Mbarara, Masaka and Mbale where he slept in big hotels, Mbabazi prefers small guesthouses elsewhere. Once a former head of intelligence services, one would expect Mbabazi to be overly cautious about what he eats and where he eats from.
On the contrary, he eats the food served at his hotels, and on the road, he eats roast plantains (gonja) or yellow bananas offered to him by supporters.
Amama Mbabazi eating bananas offered to him by his supporters"It's you [the media] that have depicted me as something out of this world but I am a simple, ordinary person just like you," Mbabazi told The Observer yesterday.
Gwokto La'Kitgumvery high education. We can call Obote all bad names we have, but the bottom line remains that he got more scholarships for Buganda than all previous Uganda leaders combined. That includes Sir Edward Mutesa, President Lule, President Binayisa, up to and into Ssabasajja Mutebi. Who all happen to be Baganda leaders." MulindwaDisclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
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